X-Men: Apocalypse Had Wolverine in A Bigger Role, Then It Changed

2 years ago

In the months leading up to the release of this weekend’s X-Men: Apocalypse, many were wondering whether or not Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine would appear in the movie. This iconic character has appeared in every X-Men movie to date, and while he was never confirmed as part of the cast, Hugh Jackman and director Bryan Singer’s cryptic conversation at Comic Con lead most fans to believe that Wolverine would be a part of X-Men: Apocalypse. Now that X-Men: Apocalypse is playing nationwide, new details have surfaced, revealing that Wolverine almost had a much bigger role in this story.

Wolverine’s presence in this superhero adventure was confirmed in the third trailer that dropped last month, where the final shot reveals this iconic hero’s unmistakable adamantium claws. In the movie, he shows up to help the young X-Men after he’s released from the Weapon X program, but producer Simon Kinberg teased in an interview with CinemaBlend that Wolverine was almost included in even more scenes. Here’s what the writer-producer had to say.

“There was always a notion that we wanted Wolverine to be in the movie. We wanted to find a way to feature him in the film, partly because Bryan [Singer] and I love Hugh Jackman so much. We love the character, obviously, and he’s such a huge part of the franchise. There were a lot of iterations of how Wolverine would enter and exit the movie. There was a version when he was going to come in at the midpoint of the film and be like the drill sergeant for the kids and take over as their leader. And we felt like that stepped on Jen’s role in the movie and becoming their leader.”

Hugh Jackman will deliver his final Wolverine performance in the upcoming Wolverine 3, which recently started production. However, director Bryan Singer recently teased that he wants to bring the entire original X-Men cast together for a future movie, so it’s possible that if this project moves forward, the director may be able to talk Hugh Jackman out of his Wolverine retirement. Then again, there are already a number of future X-Men movies in the works, so we’re not sure if and when this may happen.

The closest thing we’ve gotten to this reunion was 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past, which featured several members of the original X-Men trilogy, although some only appeared in cameo roles, like Famke Janssen’s Jean Grey and James Marsden’s Cyclops. With this new timeline in place, it isn’t exactly known how the original cast could come together, or if Bryan Singer is even contemplating creating a story that would reunite all of these actors. We’ll have to wait and see how the future of the X-Men franchise takes shape now that Apocalypse has hit theaters, so stay tuned.